Equipment to Boost Met Services Arrives

Equipment to Boost Met Services Arrives

The country’s Weather Observation Network is expected to expand following the recent arrival of Automatic Rainfall and Weather Station equipment in the country this month.

Director of Solomon Islands Meteorological Services David Hiriasia said these new equipment will allow the MET Office to expand the collection of data to help determine the country’s local climate situation.

The MET Office currently have only five observation sites in the country and data collected from these sites does not fully reflect the real local climate of the country.

“These new equipment will boost our data collection to determine the true local climate which is very important for the people of this country,” Hiriasia said.

He stressed that the expansion of the weather observation network will help the MET office, the climate change division and National Disaster Management Office to communicate such data to understand the changing climate within the country.

He added that this equipment will assist planning and setting of infrastructure developments in the country, climate change adaptation, food security and so forth.

According to Mr Hiriasia, a pilot installation of this equipment will begin in mid February.

The equipment will be installed throughout the country as part of the early multi- hazard warning system.

The equipment were made possible under the Climate Change project SWOCK

(Strongim Waka of Comunity Kaikai) in collaboration with the MET services,

UNDP, the Climate Change office, the Ministry of Agriculture and livestock and

the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA) of New Zealand.

ENDS///

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